§29.9.1προστίθημι δʼ ἔτι παρʼ ἐμαυτοῦ τοσοῦτον, μὴ καὶ μωροποιεῖσθαι συμβαίνει τὴν φιλαργυρίαν.
And I add this much of my own, that avarice actually makes men foolish.
§29.9.2τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἐπισημήναιτο τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν βασιλέων, Εὐμένους μέν, κατὰ τίνα λόγον ἤλπισε τηλικαύτης ἀλλοτριότητος ὑπαρχούσης πιστευθήσεσθαι καὶ προσλήψεσθαι τοσοῦτο πλῆθος χρημάτων, μηδεμίαν δυνάμενος ἱκανὴν πίστιν παρασχέσθαι τῷ Περσεῖ τῆς κομιδῆς τούτων, ἐὰν μὴ βεβαιοῖ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις;
For who would not remark on the ignorance of both kings: of Eumenes on the one hand, on what ground he hoped, when such hostility existed, to be trusted and to receive in addition so great a sum of money, though he was unable to provide any sufficient guarantee to Perseus for the recovery of these, if he should not fulfill his promises?
§29.9.3πῶς δὲ λαβὼν τοσοῦτο πλῆθος χρημάτων ὑπέλαβε λήσειν Ῥωμαίους;
And how, having received so great a sum of money, did he suppose he would escape the notice of the Romans?
§29.9.4εἰ γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τὸ παρόν, οὐκ ἂν ἔν γε τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνῳ διέλαθε.
For even if he had at the present moment, he certainly would not have escaped notice in the time thereafter.
§29.9.5λοιπὸν ἔδει πάντως ἀντὶ τῶν διδομένων χρημάτων ἀλλάξασθαι τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους διαφοράν, διʼ ἣν ἔμελλε καὶ τῶν ληφθέντων χρημάτων ἅμα καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ τοῦ βίου στερήσεσθαι, πολέμιος φανεὶς Ῥωμαίοις.
Consequently, it was absolutely necessary for him to exchange the money given to him for enmity with the Romans, on account of which he was bound to be deprived at once of the money received, and of his kingdom, and almost of his life also, by appearing as an enemy to the Romans.
§29.9.6εἰ γὰρ καὶ νῦν μηδὲν πράξας, ἐπινοήσας δὲ μόνον εἰς τοὺς μεγίστους ἦλθε κινδύνους, τί ποτε παθεῖν αὐτῷ προσῆκεν ἐπὶ τέλος ἀχθείσης τῆς προειρημένης πράξεως;
For if even now, having done nothing but only having conceived the design, he fell into the greatest dangers, what would he have deserved to suffer if the aforesaid action had been brought to completion?
§29.9.7τοῦ δὲ Περσέως πάλιν τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειε πῶς ἄλλο τι συμφορώτερον ἢ προυργιαίτερον ἐνόμισε τοῦ δοῦναι τὰ χρήματα καὶ καταπιεῖν ἐᾶσαι τὸν Εὐμένη τὸ δέλεαρ;
On the other hand, who would not wonder at Perseus, how he thought anything else to be more advantageous or more urgent than giving the money and letting Eumenes swallow the bait?
§29.9.8εἰ μὲν γὰρ συνήργησέ τι τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας καὶ διέλυσε τὸν πόλεμον, εἰς καλὸν ἡ δόσις.
For if he had cooperated in any of the things promised and had ended the war, the payment would have been well spent.
§29.9.9εἰ δὲ ταύτης διεψεύσθη τῆς ἐλπίδος, εἴς γε τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἔχθραν ὁμολογουμένως ἂν αὐτὸν ἐμβεβλήκει· τοῦ γὰρ εἰς τὸ μέσον ἐνεγκεῖν ταῦτα κύριος ὑπῆρχεν αὐτός.
But if he had been disappointed in this hope, he would admittedly have plunged him into enmity with the Romans; for he himself had the power to bring these matters into the open.
§29.9.10πόσου δὲ τοῦτʼ ἄξιον Περσεῖ καὶ κατορθοῦντι τῷ πολέμῳ καὶ πταίοντι, ῥᾴδιον συλλογίσασθαι· §29.9.11πάντων γὰρ τῶν συμβάντων κακῶν αἴτιον ἐνόμιζεν Εὐμένη γεγονέναι, ὃν οὐκ ἂν ἠδυνήθη κατʼ οὐδένα τρόπον ἀμύνασθαι βέλτιον ἢ πολέμιον ποιήσας Ῥωμαίοις.
How much this was worth to Perseus, both if he succeeded in the war and if he failed, is easy to calculate; for he considered Eumenes to have been the cause of all the evils that had happened, whom he could not have punished in any better way than by making him an enemy to the Romans.
§29.9.12τίς οὖν αἰτία τῆς οὕτως ἐκφανοῦς ἀλογιστίας;
What, then, was the cause of such manifest folly?
φιλαργυρία·
Avarice.
τί γὰρ ἂν ἄλλο τις εἴπειεν;
For what else could one say?
ὁ μὲν γὰρ χάριν τοῦ λαβεῖν τὰ μὴ καθήκοντα πάντα παρεώρα τἄλλα καὶ πάντʼ ἀνεδέχετο ποιήσειν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μὴ
δοῦναι πάντα παθεῖν καὶ πᾶν ὑπεριδεῖν ὑπέμενεν.
For the one, for the sake of receiving what was not proper, overlooked everything else and undertook to do everything; while the other, for the sake of not paying, submitted to suffer everything and to overlook everything.
§29.9.13ἀκολούθως δὲ τούτοις Περσεὺς καὶ τὰ πρὸς Γαλάτας καὶ τὰ πρὸς Γένθιον —
Accordingly, in a similar manner to these, Perseus also acted with regard to the Gauls and to Genthius—